Off-Grid Living in Morrow County, Oregon

If you're eyeing raw land in Morrow County, Oregon for an off-grid setup, here's what I've been able to confirm, and where the trail runs cold.

Zoning first. Morrow County has countywide zoning, there's no "unregulated" pocket of land here. The Planning Department administers the county's Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance and Comprehensive Plan under the Board of Commissioners. What I couldn't pin down in this pass is the actual zone-by-zone detail (minimum parcel sizes, resource-zone dwelling limits) because the ordinance text itself wasn't accessible to me. Don't guess here, call Planning and ask about your specific parcel's zone.

One big local wrinkle: the Cities of Boardman and Irrigon are their own incorporated jurisdictions with separate building departments. If you're anywhere near those city limits, the county's rules don't apply to you, the city does.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. This is genuinely unclear at the Morrow County level. Oregon's statewide RV-as-dwelling statute (ORS 197.493) sets a baseline, but I couldn't confirm whether Morrow County has adopted any additional local RV or tiny-home dwelling program, or what its manufactured-home siting rules look like outside Boardman (which handles its own manufactured home set-up permits). Treat this as a direct-call question to Planning.

Building permits are required countywide except in Boardman and Irrigon, and electrical permits statewide go through Oregon's Building Codes Division, not the county. Notably, the county's own permit checklist requires proof of an approved sewage disposal method (septic) before you can move forward, and a Land Use Compatibility Statement from Planning is required for septic work. If you don't already have driveway access, Public Works has to sign off on a Site Approach Permit too.

Septic works differently here than in most Oregon counties. Since 2019, Morrow County's onsite septic program was transferred from Oregon DEQ to Umatilla County Health, which now handles site evaluations, permits, inspections, and pumper-truck inspections. DEQ only keeps authority over high-strength waste systems and larger-flow systems, plus statewide contractor licensing. I found nothing official on composting toilets specifically at the county level.

Greywater and rainwater don't have Morrow-specific rules that I could find, so the state baseline applies: rooftop rainwater collection is exempt from water-rights permitting, and greywater follows Oregon DEQ's tiered permit system.

Wells are a real point of attention here. Well construction itself is a state matter through Oregon Water Resources Department, but much of Morrow County sits inside the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area, which has documented nitrate contamination going back to 1990. The county and Umatilla County launched a joint Drinking Water Roadmap Project in 2024 to address this for domestic well users, so if you're planning to rely on a well here, factor in nitrate testing.

Bottom line on utilities: nothing bans off-grid electrical living outright, but you'll need an approved wastewater solution to get a building permit, which is the practical gate you'll hit first.